I’ve got another fab recipe from the CWA Victoria cookbook From Our Kitchen to Yours for you. This one is an excellent lamb curry, conjured up by a lady called Marie. Nothing is mentioned about who Marie was or why she contributed her lamb curry to the Country Women’s Association, so it’s left for me to make up her story. Marie needs a story. The year is 1953 and Marie’s husband Keith is a sheep farmer, so lamb is the only meat the family can afford to eat. Lamb chops, lamb ribs, lamb skewers rotated through the week, then roast lamb on Sundays. All served with peas, potatoes and carrots and the occasional roast pumpkin if the vegie patch was feeling kind.
Marie would have liked this one too: A ginger fluff recipe from the CWA
Marie loves her husband, her five kids and her life, but she’s getting very tired of lamb with three veg every night. One day while browsing the stacks at the Warncoort Municipal Library she stumbles upon an exotic Indian cookbook. She bundles it home under her jacket and hides it in the laundry where Keith never goes. The next day when he’s left to do whatever it is that sheep farmers do, Marie slides the book out. It falls open to a curry recipe, the ingredients of which she has very few. But with a bit of testing, tasting and compromising, she makes the very first Marie’s lamb curry. That night at dinner, Keith causes a fuss when he sees the ‘casserole’ in front of him. “I wanted to mix things up a bit,” Marie explains. “Have something a little bit different for a change!” Keith isn’t convinced, but one bite of that curry is enough to shush him. “Marie, darlin’, please make lamb curry every single Wednesday night from this day forth,” he says. Marie sighs. For a limited time you can pick up From Our Kitchen to Yours for 25% off at Booktopia.
Marie’s lamb curry
Makes 4 servings Takes 30 mins
1.5 kg boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 2.5 cm pieces 1 teaspoon ground turmeric salt and pepper to taste 1 brown onion, roughly chopped 10 garlic cloves, roughly chopped 75 g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped 2 tablespoons fennel seeds 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil 2 teaspoons chilli powder 2 cinnamon sticks, broken up into pieces 10 curry leaves 1 red chilli 500 ml water 250 ml coconut cream 1 teaspoon caster sugar 1 lemon, juiced coriander leaves, to garnish
Mix the lamb, turmeric and salt and pepper together in a bowl. Place the onion, garlic and ginger into a food processor, then blend the mixture into a coarse paste. Place the fennel seeds into a frying pan on medium heat then cook for 1–2 minutes, or until fragrant. Grind the fennel seeds using a mortar and pestle until you achieve a powder consistency. Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan on high and, when hot, add the onion, garlic and ginger paste. Cook for 2–3 minutes, or until fragrant. Add the ground fennel seeds, chilli powder, cinnamon sticks and curry leaves, reduce the heat to medium, then cook for a further 2–3 minutes. Add the lamb and cook for 10 minutes, then stir in the whole chilli, water and coconut cream. Bring to a simmer, then cook for 1½ hours, stirring occasionally to prevent the curry from sticking to the base of the saucepan. The lamb should be tender and the sauce thickened. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the curry. Serve sprinkled with coriander leaves, on a bed of steamed rice.
Follow your lamb curry with a slice of ginger fluff?
Images and recipe text from From Our Kitchen to Yours by The Country Women’s Association of Victoria, photography by Cath Muscat. Murdoch Books RRP $36.99. 